About

About
East County Today was launched July 1, 2012. It is the first local, online-only news source dedicated to East Contra Costa County and has quickly become one of the most popular online news sites.

East County Today is not affiliated with any other local news media and is independently owned and operated. It is our mission to provide relevant news that is straight forward and honest. We also want to provide residents with an opportunity to contribute to the community by posting news, opinion, and event notices to help others become aware of what is occurring in our community. Through discussion and awareness, we believe it will make the community stronger.

Through discussion and awareness, we believe it will make the community stronger.

Coverage AreaEast Contra Costa County has a population of roughly 277,600 people. Our news focuses on Antioch, Bethel Island, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, Pittsburg, and Oakley. We will also feature materials relevant to Contra Costa County and political news out of Sacramento.

Is East County Today a news website or a blog?Call us what you wish, it doesn’t matter as long as the information gets out to the public and shared. We provide news reporting, opinions, features, and photographs of local happenings. We strike to be independent, timely, accurate, honest, and information is helpful to the community. Lastly, we hope to supply information that other local media is choosing not to publish. So are we a website or a blog? That is for you to decide.

Our Team

Michael Burkholder
Founder & Owner
Submit a news tip, story idea, letter to the editor, announcement, business news, community news, school news, upcoming event, photo, and/or a press release for inclusion to this website, please email Mr. Burkholder at anytime.

Art Michel,Media Productions EditorMr. Michel runs the business AM Productions where he shoots both photography and video many types of events.

We also have to credit our readers who are engaged and supply us with tips, photographs and announcements of events.

Photographs and Our Rights

While we will respect privacy in certain situations when we deem appropriate (sometimes even upon request), it’s important to remember our photographs have rights within the law.

Anyone in a public place can take pictures of anything they want. Public places include parks, sidewalks, malls, etc.

If we are on public property, we can take pictures of private property. If a building, for example, is visible from the sidewalk, its fair game.

If we are on private property and are asked not to take pictures, we will stop taking photographs.

People can be photographed if they are in public (without their consent) unless they have secluded themselves and can expect a reasonable degree of privacy. Kids playing on a playground? Okay. Somebody entering their PIN at the ATM? Not okay.

The following can almost always be photographed from public places, despite popular opinion:

If you would like a photograph or story removed from this website or our social media sites, please explain why and contact us at burk@eastcountytoday.net

Comment Policy

East County Today encourages are readers to make comments and discuss issues. We ask that you keep it clean and resist from personal attacks.

While we admit we do not want to be the “comment police”, out of good conscious we will do it when requested. A good rule to follow is the “Grandma Rule” which states that if you wouldn’t want to your grandma to see it… don’t post it!

We understand some topics are considered “hot topics” and will get folks fired up, but lets have a discussion of ideas, not a fight between two people.

A few guidelines so your comment will not be removed:

No indirect attacks, name calling, or insults

No foul language

No threats – if its severe, we may even report it to local law enforcement

No trolling or baiting

Do not pretend to be someone else – yes, we can verify if we have to.

We encourage you not to post personal or identifiable information besides your name